


For Some Reason That's Good

by the_law_of_progress



Category: Les Misérables - All Media Types, Les Misérables - Victor Hugo
Genre: Bahorel's poor studying techniques, Courfeyrac's pyromanical tendencies, Gen, more German than is strictly necessary, yes that's an important tag beware kids don't take studying advice from Bahorel, yes things get set on fire but it's okay I promise
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-16
Updated: 2019-07-16
Packaged: 2020-06-29 18:39:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 965
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19836214
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_law_of_progress/pseuds/the_law_of_progress
Summary: Marius attempts to aid Courfeyrac in his struggles to learn the German language.(A much belated Barricade Day drabble.)





	For Some Reason That's Good

**Author's Note:**

> So this was originally posted to tumblr for Barricade Day, but I rushed the ending to get it posted. Now here we are, over a month later, and I finally fixed it up. Enjoy!

"Marius, my dear man, I have had it!"

Courfeyrac stormed into their apartment in a fury. He opened his school bag with great enthusiasm, grammar exercises covered in red correction ink spilled out.

"Had it with what?" Marius ask, looking up from his translations of Shakespeare into German. He was currently debating the merit of using "wollen" over "mögen” but was uncertain if that was a little too strong an interpretation of the phrase. 

"Why that devilish tongue our easterly neighbors dare to call a language!". Courfeyrac said in a huff, throwing himself dramatically into the chair next to Marius, taking care not to disturb his stack of translations. 

"And which language is that?" he asked, not really listening. No, wollen wouldn't work here, not when he was going to need to use it in Konjunktiv II as a substitute for mögen in the next paragraph. That kind of juxtaposition would ruin the parallels from Act II...

"Good heavens, you know it!" exclaimed Courfeyrac over Marius’s shoulder, startling Marius into blotting the Umlaut in mögen, making the word quite unreadable.

After saving the rest of his documents from the same fate as his latest translation, Marius asked "Know what, dear fellow?"

"Why German, of course! That damned language that I am quite unfairly failing. I must say our professor is even more tyrannical than M. Le Nez."

An impossibility, but an intersting description nonetheless, though Marius.

Inspiration then struck Courfeyrac, who in turn inspired himself to embrace Marius, "this is marvelous! You must tutor me so that I can scrap past this dreadful class."

Marius looked doubtful, but agreed nonetheless.

\---

Marius was not known among his fellows for his ability to understand others, but it only took him half an hour of explaining the difference between Nominativ, Akkusativ, Dativ, and Genitiv for him to realize how hopeless Courfeyrac was at German.

“Surely, you’ve learned how to declinate words in Latin?” He asked tentatively, after the fourth scrap of paper had been thrown viciously into the fire by his slightly pyromaniacal friend. 

“Oh yes, quite unintentional.” Said Courfeyrac, ripping up the fifth scrap into tiny pieces that he let flutter into the fire. Upon seeing Marius’s confusing, Courfeyrac explained, “I was helping Bahorel study for an exam. Well, I say study as if he meant to pass. No, he intended to learn all the definitions quite wrong in order to thoroughly fail the exam and thus the course. It’s a graduation requirement, you see.”

Marius did not see, but he nodded nevertheless.

“And, well, I unintentionally picked up some of the phrases.” He finished this statement with a flourish of his hand, letting what was left of the fifth scrap drop unceremoniously into the fire. After the last scrap had caught aflame, Courfeyrac dropped himself into a chair next to Marius, where he proclaimed quite dramatically, “Marius, I am simply not cut out for this dreadful tongue. I am afraid I shall have to simply become like Bahorel and never leave!” 

Marius was indeed becoming worried that he would never leave, those translations weren’t going to tend to themselves and he desperately needed the money to make rent. While he did love Courfeyrac dearly, he needed to work in peace. 

“Dear fellow,” Marius began, hesitantly, nervously fidgeting with his manuscripts, but before he could finish, Courfeyrac caught on. “Oh, but I have interrupted your work! Dear me, you must think me terribly selfish? Coming in like I did, disturbing your work and demanding help. Goodness dear fellow, how can I ever ask you to forgive me?”

Marius began to splutter. There were no needs for apologies between such good friends, he attempted to say, but his overtired brain, having spent the better part of the last night burning precious candles to finish Act IV, and the better part of this morning attempt the impossible- namely, teaching Courfeyrac- the words slipped out rather more Germanic than intended. „Mein guter Freund,” he began, but Courfeyrac seemed intent on making his regrets known. 

“No, no, don’t wave me off now. Perhaps-“ he paused. “Was that German? You said, ‘mein guter Freund,’” this he said with a rather strong accent- the adjective ending being nearly inaudible- a common mistake for native speakers of French, Marius had found. 

“Why, that’s nominative, isn’t it? And you’ve taken the declination of the adjective “gut” which for masculine nominative would be an “er” ending.”

Marius was astonished. Could it be that hearing the words rather than reading them made more sense to his pyromaniacal friend? “Y-yes. That’s quite right.”

Courfeyrac was beaming. “Dear fellow, I think this might work after all! Away with verb charts and such, no give me oral examinations for the next few weeks, and I think I might live to leave university!” 

Thus, the deal was struck… except for the issue of payment.

“My dear friend, you are offering quite a substantial service, I must provide you with sufficient compensation!” Courfeyrac had said, but Marius wouldn’t hear of it. 

“I won’ take money from a friend.” He said firmly, his pride holding out. 

Courfeyrac sighed extravagantly, “Then I don’t suppose you’d do the opposite?” 

Marius paused. He looked at Courfeyrac with a peculiar expression on his face. “Whatever do you mean?”

“I mean,” began Courfeyrac, “that I have been looking for a permanent lodger in which to share my rent. Ever since I lost my particle, I’m afraid I’ve also lost my inheritance with it… you would be obliging _me_.”

There was moment where Marius hesitated. His current living situation was rather… untenable at present. It wasn’t as if he had any opposition to living with Courfeyrac, he was well aware of the man’s many flaws. Finally, he said, “This might just work out after all. I accept your proposal.” 


End file.
